Why you should keep your racing to the track...

[TAF]

You can read the accompaning story...but...Net/Net...there was a big bust here in the A-T-L over the weekend of "street racers". Police posing as "documentary filmmakers" infiltrated a group on the southeast side of Atlanta at a rather "organized" street racing location. There are 3 videos on the link (keep in mind, it's raw footage from the undercover cops). The only thing I don't like about it is...the last one should show the redneck, trailer-trash chick who was the "starter" getting hauled away.

http://www.11alive.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=5029 7

[Paul T. Casey]

Biggest reason I can come up with for keeping it on the track is it's very unlikely that someone is going to step out into on of the lanes there. Also, the "who started too soon/ who really won" arguement is settled by pro's.

[BillyGman]

I'm amazed at how carelessly those races are started, by using a human Christmas tree, and w/the cars being raced so close together as well. If any car w/some respectable power being put to the rear wheels were to break the tires loose and fish tale off the starting line, the car could swing right into the chick starting the race. Not very bright at all.

[TripleTransAm]

If any car w/some respectable power being put to the rear wheels were to break the tires loose and fish tale off the starting line, the car could swing right into the chick starting the race.


It has.

There's a video I grabbed off the internet showing a match-up between a late-model Mustang and a late-model Z28. The two cars launched, the Z28 began fishtailing wildly at about the 60' mark, and went diving RIGHT into the crowd. Being 'home video', I have no clue what happened to the folks who got plowed.

[BillyGman]

Somehow, that doesn't surprise me Steve. This kind of stuff is what I call "ghetto racing". The bad thing about it is like the police department reportedly stated in that news video, it's "organized". The reason that's bad, is because it's just barely organized enough to routinely draw crowds, and to draw many racers, however it falls waaaaaay short of being thought out enough (let alone organized enough) to be anywhere near safe.


I can't help but think that racing like this originates from people who know very little about race cars, and who only have experience w/cars that aren't all that fast. Then, when you add some cars to the mix that do have some decent HP, and that are fast, the danger levels increase dramatically.

I've heard stories about racing like this taking place in the city that's merely 10 miles from where I reside, but I've never went there to participate, nor am I interested in doing so.

I'll be quick to admit that any racing on the street is bad enough although I've taken part in some myself on some wide open unpopulated roads. But you get a situation where you have crowds of young people gathered around cars that are lining up one after another to be paired off to race, and where the young spectators are often close enough to the two cars racing to literally touch them as they're racing by, it's just an accident waiting to happen since it increases the risks dramatically. I have done some crazy things behind the wheel of a car, as I'm sure that most on this board have at one time or another in their life, but I've never participated in the type of half organized racing that this video has portrayed, and I don't blame the local police department for attempting to crack down on these events which seem to draw sizeable crowds, and many participants.

I think it's sad that these activities take place in states such as mine, which used to have a dragstrip, but was closed down over 20 years ago due to complaints of noise levels. However, I think it's even worse that people who reside in states which do have dragstrips, still participate in such activities on the street such as was depicted in this video.

[martyo]

If you look closely in the video, you can see our very own Donny Carlson, adorned in every imaginable Ford Racing logo'd item, proclaiming "You Coppers will never take me alive!!!"

[BillyGman]

That Marty always knows the right thing to say. :)